Not surprised to see Black reunite with the star of his directorial debut (KISS KISS BANG BANG) for his sophomore feature, and as a result Downey gets plenty of good dialogue — but even still, the character of Tony Stark feels a little different from the first two IRON MANs, as well as Whedon’s take on him in THE AVENGERS. In short, it’s all very Shane Blacky, meaning a lot more referential, self-aware, and throwbackish (to stuff like Black’s LETHAL WEAPON script) than authentic Starkness.

I laughed a lot at many of the lines and gags here, but whenever shit got serious, it was either a little dull or just a massive, cacophonous wall of CGI. There’s so little plot too; once Guy Pearce shows up we know where everything is going, and there’s no new information, surprises, or depth to anything. Just jumping from one setpiece to the next. Getting to be a little been-there-done-that for comic book movies. That said, it’s hard not to like Ben Kingsley here, or Rebecca Hall, or even HAPPY ENDINGS’s Adam Pally in a scene-stealing cameo as a TV-truck journalist with a Stark obsession. And wtf, how did I not know that was Paul Bettany’s voice as Jarvis?